


Is sobriety really that bad?

by althecat5728



Series: Klaus and Ben co-parent a Cat [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Cats, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Klaus and Ben get the tiny cat they deserve, Past Drug Use, Prostitution, Rehabilitation, Shoplifting, Waffles, Withdrawal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-18 13:06:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18121316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/althecat5728/pseuds/althecat5728
Summary: “Klaus.” Klaus groaned, throwing his arm over his eyes. He felt so floaty right now, so at peace.“Shut up, Ben.”“Klaus, look.”“Ben I feel horrible right now, can you shut your face for longer than two seconds?”“Klaus seriously, look.” Klaus peeked an eye open, and looked at Ben who was pointing a little farther down the alley. It was a kitten, and a very very small one.





	Is sobriety really that bad?

**Author's Note:**

> Klaus and Ben deserve a fluffy cat.

Klaus wasn’t paying attention, not really. The streets were buzzing- never quiet. Klaus grew to find it strangely comforting, or at least better then the screams of the dead. He couldn’t hear them now, he was way too tired. He slumped against the wall, the beginning side effects of withdrawal starting to appear. His dealer had cut him off, saying that Klaus had had way too much and to come back in a few days when he wasn’t a complete mess. Klaus had even offered more money, but his dealer continued to turn him down.  
“Klaus.” Klaus groaned, throwing his arm over his eyes. He felt so floaty right now, so at peace.  
“Shut up, Ben.”  
“Klaus, look.”  
“Ben I feel horrible right now, can you shut your face for longer than two seconds?”  
“Klaus seriously, look.” Klaus peeked an eye open, and looked at Ben who was pointing a little farther down the alley. It was a kitten, and a very very small one.  
It wasn’t uncommon to see cats crawling around New York, especially in alleyways, but they usually darted off the second Klaus ever approached one. Granted, he was either drunk or high and usually cooing at them loudly, but he always had a soft spot for them. They reminded him of himself- adventurous, fascinating creatures that could never stay in one place for too long and preferred to live by their own rules.  
“Holy moley Ben, good eye!” He struggled to push himself off the way but he managed to make his way to the tiny lump of fur. It was extremely tiny, and he could hear it’s tiny piercing mews now, and how is he just now noticing it? He crouched down, carefully scooping it up and bringing it close to his chest. It was clearly the runt of whatever litter it had been in, and it’s eyes weren't even open yet-so less then two weeks old. It was a Siamese, and the irony that Klaus had come across one of the most chatty breeds of cat.  
“Hey little one, you’re shakin like a leaf!” He began rubbing it, trying to warm up the scruff ball.  
“There’s no sign of the mama cat.” Ben said, sadness evident in his voice. Klaus frowned. The little baby had been left for dead, deemed useless and worthless.  
Klaus knew the feeling.  
“We have to keep it.” Klaus decided, looking up at Ben, who was watching the kitten closely. Ben looked up at him, conflicted. “Do you think we can take care of it?”  
“We can certainly try.” Klaus stood up, and walked out of the alley, heading in the direction of the closest store he thought might have kitten formula. Ben followed closer than usual, practically staring at the cat the whole time they were walking. Klaus thought that the kitten must have fallen asleep at this point, as she wasn’t mewing anymore and breathing slower then before.  
It was a dollar general, and Klaus walked as quickly as possible to avoid the employees from seeing the tiny kitten. The pet section was bigger than he thought, it would be, and he grabbed spotted the flea meds. They were $5 each. He winced. He still had to find cat formula. Maybe he could shoplift them? Carefully looking around for cameras and or people, he took a box and quickly but it in the inside pocket of his overly large jacket.  
“I think this might be the only time I approve of your thieving habits, Klaus.” Ben said, smirking.  
“So glad you think so highly of me, brother dear.” Klaus replied sweetly. He turned back, scanning the shelves for kitten formula before cursing. Maybe the next store would have something?  
He swiftly left the store, grateful that nobody caught him. He wondered around a bit more, but he really needed to hurry, the kitten was probably going to wake up soon.  
It took a few more stores before he finally found some formula and with a dropper at CVS. He was shaking badly though, withdraw starting to really hit him. He wanted a hit, he wanted one so badly, but he needed to feed the kitten first.  
“You got this Klaus, you’re gonna be fine. Just hold out a little bit longer.” Ben said, trying to soothe him.  
“‘Tis sucks lot, Ben.” Klaus muttered through clenched teeth, stuffing the formula in his pocket.  
He stumbled out of the store this time, getting weird looks from strangers.  
Oh well.  
Ghosts were starting to appear now too, calling his name and screaming. He ignored them best he could, and began heading to the closest homeless shelter he knew of. He sighed heavily, gently placing the kitten in the biggest empty pocket, holding it so it didn’t bounce around as he moved.  
When he opened, people started staring at him, and Klaus could see them whispering among each other. He knew he looked like a wreck, felt like one too.  
Whatever.  
He approached a lady at desk, and she looked up at him suspiciously, and he could hear the kitten meowing in his pocket.  
“Does this humble palace happen to have a microwave I could use?” Klaus asked, trying to keep his eyes on the lady and not the pretend he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. The lady didn’t reply, instead pointing to the corner where a chummy microwave sat on a table that had seen better days. “Thanks.” Klaus waved Goodbye to her, and headed over, avoiding people and ghosts.  
When he finally got the formula to the right temp (“I know how to work a microwave Ben!”), he hurriedly rushed to the nearest bathroom. Klaus gently took kitten out and sank against the wall, setting the kitten on his lap. After a quick check, he found the kitten to be female. She was meowing loudly now, and Klaus hurriedly started to feed her, cooing the whole time. He’s aware of his hands trembling but he tries to be as steady as possible.  
“What should we name our little princess?” Klaus asked happily, looking over at Ben, who was sitting next to him.  
Ben smiled. “I’m quite fond of the name Ellen.” He said softly.  
Klaus’s face lit up.“Ooooo, like Ellen Degeneres or Ellen Page?”  
“Absolutely.” they both laugh at that, and they don’t talk until Klaus finishes feeding Ellen. She’s asleep again. “I wish I could sleep as much as her.” Klaus mumbles.  
He stands up again, placing her gently in his pocket before pocketing the formula bottle and droplet in one of his many other pockets. As he turns around to leave, Klaus catches a look at himself in the mirror.  
He looks horrible. His hair is a mess, and his hollow cheekbones stand out. His green eyes(probably his favorite thing about himself) stand out though. His fluffy fur coat seems to swallow him, and his skinny leather pants and crop top show his sharp edges. He’s still shivering and looks like he’s on death's doorstep. He hums to himself, before making his way to leave the shelter.

UA

The months fly by, and Ellen has grown, a lot. She’s no runt anymore. Klaus learns that she loves to play around, and she’s very vocal about what she likes and dislikes. To both Klaus and Ben’s joy, she sees Ben, or at least can sense him. Klaus is absolutely in love with Ellen. She does however, take a lot of money to take care of because she either eats like crazy, or Klaus can’t resisting buying her little sweaters and treats. And also he had to get her shots and meds.  
Conveniently, she’s a climber that loves sitting on his shoulders. They’ve worked out a system where she can lounge around his neck because she's so freaking long while Klaus wonders the city, which looks and feels super badass. She also doubles as a purring feather boa with her obscenely fluffy fur.  
Much to his dismay, taking care of Ellen comes with forced sobriety. Klaus found out the hard way that there’s no way he can take care of Ellen if he’s high, drunk, or a combination of both(he vividly remembers Ellen scratching him when he accidentally pours vodka in her bowl instead of water), and he can’t bring himself to spend the night at anybody’s house in fear that he’ll lose her in the bar or some monster will kill her when she’s out of his sight. It doesn’t stop him from sneaking allies for some bucks, but he needs income somehow. Sobriety absolutely sucks and he has nightmares every night as a result and the need for drugs is driving him insane, but Ellen is warm and cuddly and grooms him while he cries, and Ben is there too.  
To his surprise, Klaus’s sobriety has allowed Klaus to be more in tune with his powers then since he was a teenager. He’s able to perform telekinesis now too, which is definitely unexpected, but he’s getting somewhat of a hand on it even though he can’t ever really turn it off. People often freak out when things around him start randomly floating as he’s walking down the street.  
His relationship with the dead is under more control now too, and he’s able to make them disappear if he focuses enough, though it usually ends in a migraine and nosebleed. Ben has even managed to touch him, and they’re working on that too with more success than they’d have originally thought.  
He’s buying Ellen more cat food from a shitty dollar store when the TV in the store he’s in announces that Reginald is dead. Klaus and Ben cheer extremely loudly, whooping and twirling around, chanting “THE OLD MAN IS DEAD! THE OLD MAN IS DEAD!” The cashier stares at him gaping as Klaus(and Ben, but he can’t see him) rejoice triumphantly.  
“It’s about time that son of a bitch died! I’ve been waiting for this day since I was a kid! Right Ben?” Ben is grinning like a lunatic.The cashier doesn’t share either of their enthusiasm, and quickly hands Klaus his change. Klaus heads out with a wave Goodbye, and he sees Ellen is sitting outside the door.  
“Hey Baby Girl! The old man is dead now, and that means we can collect some serious inheritance money!” Ellen meows loudly, and rubs against his legs. Klaus coos, and picks her up and she settles on his neck. Klaus giggles when her hair tickles his nose.  
The store, funny enough, isn’t that far away from the Academy and soon enough he’s staring at the Gates of Hell. Klaus falls silent then, memories of his last time here resurfacing. He looks over at Ben, and knows that he must be following a similar train of thought. Klaus shakes his head.  
“And without further adieu, I welcome us to the place where childhood doesn’t exist.” Klaus strolls through the gates and creeps inside the front door. He can hear voices in the living room, seemingly in a heated debate.  
“I don’t care, I don’t think dad actually died from a heart attack.”  
“Oh so what, some lucky chap came in during the middle of the night? I read the autopsy report Luther, it was just a heart attack. Nothing happened.” Ben and Klaus exchange a look. Ben looks concerned, but Klaus honestly couldn’t really care less about how the old man died.  
Klaus shrugs, and heads towards the kitchen for free food. He gently sets Ellen on the table and pulls out a seat for Ben before rummaging in the freezer. He finds frozen waffles and (not so) internally cheers. He places them in the toaster and then takes care of Ellen by opening a can of food for her. He’s too busy cooing her and giving her kisses to notice that Vanya is at the doorway and is watching them both, smiling softly to herself.  
“Cute cat.” She says. Klaus shrieks and runs over to her, enveloping her in a tight hug. “Vanya! It’s been so long! How are you? How’s the orchestra? Are you first chair yet? You certainly deserve it, I’ll fight whoever says you don’t.” He’s sure that hes rambling but he’s so excited to see her, even if she did write a horrible book about all of them and got a ton of money-at least she got one good thing from their time at the Academy.  
He doubted she knew, but Klaus had always kept an open ear for her concerts and attended them when he could, sneaking in to listen and sneaking out quickly after. He was furious that she was third chair; he knew how much she must practice, how much she wanted to become something more than ordinary Number 7. Her music was amazing, no matter what anybody said, and she deserved first chair.  
Vanya gives him a small smile. “I’m alright. I’m not first chair though, but I appreciate your willingness to fight for me.”  
“Well of course, you love that violin so much!” Klaus exclaims. He hears Ellen yelling at him, and he twirls around and rushes over to her. “You absolutely have to meet Ellen, Vanya, she’s the love of my life and you’ll love her too!” He hears Vanya quietly laugh behind him.  
Ellen has finished her food by then(the glutton), and she purrs when Klaus scratches under her chin. The toaster pops up then, and Ellen’s tail puffs up along with a hiss. Snickering, Klaus grabs the two plates and dishes out the waffles for himself and Ben on a plate. He grabs syrup and silverware and sits right next to Ben, who is staring at the tiny stack of waffles bemusedly.  
“Say when.” Klaus says, drizzling the syrup.  
“When.” “Meow.” Klaus stops, and looks up at Vanya. “Want to join us?” She shakes her head, and sits across from Klaus, offering her hand to Ellen. Ellen sniffs her hand, and lazily rubs against her fingers.  
“Where’d you find her?” Vanya asks, rubbing her chin.  
“We found her in an alleyway as a newborn, didn’t even have her eyes open yet. Guess mama cat thought the runt wasn’t good enough for her so she left her for dead.” Klaus sighed. “I was going through withdrawal-dealer cut me off, said I was gonna overdose or something, wasn’t really paying attention by that point- and I couldn’t leave the tiny thing for death so I took her in.” Ellen had strutted over to Klaus now, purring loudly and letting out a string of meows. Everybody cooed.  
“Ah, Miss Vanya. Master Klaus. It is so very good to see you again.” Pogo was walking towards them, a small smile on his face. Klaus waved Hello excitedly, as he was now shoving the remains of the soggy waffles in his face. Ellen was licking syrup on the plate. He wasn’t very sure it was healthy, but it was cute.  
“She shouldn’t be eating that.” Ben chided.  
“Screw you, let her have the syrup. Everybody deserves syrup.” he snapped. Vanya and Pogo gave him a weird look, and he shrugged. Vanya and Hogo started talking then, and he tuned them out, resorting to watching Ellen.  
“It’s not healthy for her.” Ben muttered.  
“Then you stop her.”  
“Fine.” Ben said firmly. He reached for the plate, and, upon seeing he could touch it, quickly yanked the plate away. Ellen meows loudly, clearly not pleased, but starts grooming herself instead of following the plate. Ben looks extremely pleased with himself, and Klaus has to resist smacking the smirk off his face. Since Ellen came along, Ben and Klaus had grown much closer. Klaus’s sobriety helped too, but he let Ellen take credit for that.  
Klaus still got the cravings. He still itched for pills or heroin or whatever he could get his hands on. 15 year of addiction isn't easy to get over. Of course he hadn’t gotten sober immediately after Ellen, he still had the occasional relapse, but Ben forgave him because he was on the road to recovery. Klaus still found it hilarious how a small kitten had drastically changed his life.  
“I love you ya little rascal,” he coos to Ellen, pulling her close to him and burying his face in her fluff. “We all gotta stick together.” She meowed, and he held her even closer, right next to his heart.


End file.
